How to Auto-Set Cue Points in Rekordbox, Serato, Traktor and VirtualDJ

Step by step

1. 1

   Close the DJ app and load the tracks

   Open MixGoat → Prepare → Cues & Loops and add files, a folder or a playlist. Quit Rekordbox, Traktor and VirtualDJ before you save: they hold their databases open, and MixGoat refuses to write into a running one and tells you to close it. Serato keeps cues in the audio files, so it only gets a warning.

2. 2

   Choose Sensitivity and how many cues you want

   Sensitivity is a confidence threshold: Generous keeps more candidates, Strict keeps only the positions the model is surest about, Balanced sits between. Max hot cues (1 to 8) caps the pads; Min distance (default 16 bars) stops two cues landing inside one phrase. Cues that miss the pad cap are not thrown away, they become memory cues in Rekordbox.

3. 3

   Decide between hot cues and memory cues

   "Save cues as" has two options. Hot cues are the pads you trigger live. Memory cues are a roadmap you scroll through on a CDJ with the pads left empty. Memory cues are a Rekordbox-only concept: Serato, Traktor and VirtualDJ always receive hot cues whatever you pick here. Leave "Snap cues to beatgrid" on; it never moves a cue more than half a beat.

4. 4

   Detect and review

   Detection runs on your machine with a bundled model, nothing is uploaded, and this step is free on every plan. The strongest cues take pads numbered left to right with the usual slot colours (red, orange, yellow, green, aqua, blue, purple, pink). Move or delete anything you disagree with before saving.

5. 5

   Pick where the cues are written

   "Write cues & loops to" has a toggle per app. Rekordbox gets a direct master.db write via pyrekordbox, falling back to rekordbox.xml (backed up to .bak first) if that fails. Traktor gets the newest collection.nml, VirtualDJ gets database.xml, both backed up to .bak first. "Embed cue tags in the audio files" writes Serato Markers2 tags into the MP3, WAV, AIFF or FLAC itself; "Keep original files untouched" writes those tags into a "Track [cues].wav" copy and points the library at the copy.

6. 6

   Save, then open the DJ app

   Saving is the GOAT step. If MixGoat had to fall back to rekordbox.xml, it does not count that as saved to Rekordbox: import the XML from Preferences → Advanced → Database → rekordbox xml. One caution: saving replaces that track's cues with the list you see, and saving an empty list clears them.

What automatic cue detection can and cannot do

MixGoat's cue model emits positions with a confidence score, nothing else. It does not label a cue as intro, build, drop, break or outro; that labelling only exists for loops, which come from a separate structural pass. Read the result as "the eight strongest moments in this track", not "here is the drop". Naming the pads, if you want names, is still your job.

Two details worth knowing. Which cues get pads is decided by confidence (the top N), but the pad numbers follow position, so pad 1 is always the earliest cue. And if the loop detector finds a loop in the first 30 seconds (or first 20 percent) of a track where no cue was detected, an intro cue is added there so the track has a clean start point.

What Rekordbox, Serato, Traktor and VirtualDJ do on their own

None of the four apps generates hot cues from the music. Rekordbox can drop a memory cue on the first beat during analysis and its Auto Cue only sets the load position. Serato has no automatic cue feature at all; cues are placed by hand. Traktor sets the beat-grid marker on analysis and can place a cue at the load point, but nothing structural. VirtualDJ's POI editor comes closest with automatic points derived from the beat grid, but it is not picking musical moments the way a trained detector does. If you want eight structural cues on 2,000 tracks, a detector is the only route that does not cost a week.

The manual method, if you prefer control

Use the same layout on every track so your hands learn it. With the beat grid confirmed, place the cues at these points and colour them the same way each time:

• Pad 1: the first downbeat, so the track always loads at a usable position.
• Pad 2: 32 bars in, usually where the first element changes and the earliest safe mix-in point.
• Pad 3: the start of the breakdown, for mixing out over the calm section.
• Pad 4: the drop, so you can cut to the energy directly.
• Pad 5: the outro start, typically the last 32 or 64 bars, for a long blend out.
• Pads 6 to 8: vocal entries, a second drop, or a loopable groove, depending on the track.

Frequently asked questions

Does automatic detection know where the drop is?

Not as a label. The model finds high-confidence cue positions, and the drop is usually among them, but the cue is not tagged "drop". Loops are the exception: MixGoat's loop detector classifies each loop as Intro, Outro, Drop, Break, Groove, Section or Loop.

Is automatic cue detection free?

In MixGoat, detection and review are free on every plan. Saving the cues into Rekordbox, Serato, Traktor or VirtualDJ, or into the audio files, is the GOAT step.

Will it overwrite the cues I already have?

Saving writes the cue list you see in MixGoat for each track, and saving a track with an empty list clears its cues. Review the list before you save, and keep the .bak files MixGoat creates for Rekordbox XML, Traktor and VirtualDJ.

Do the cues travel with the file to another computer?

Serato cues do, because they live in Markers2 tags inside the audio file, and Rekordbox and VirtualDJ read those tags too. Rekordbox, Traktor and VirtualDJ database cues stay in the database, so to move them use the app's own export (Rekordbox: export to USB or rekordbox.xml) or MixGoat's library migration.

Why does MixGoat tell me to close Rekordbox first?

Rekordbox, Traktor and VirtualDJ keep their databases open while running, and a write into an open database can be lost or corrupt it. MixGoat refuses the save until the app is closed. Serato is different: its cues are in the files, so you only get a warning.